Teleforum participant screening

ABSTRACT

Implementations disclosed herein relate to systems and methods for conference screening. According to one implementation, a method includes connecting a participant to a multi-mode conference in a listen-only mode and receiving a request of active participation in the multi-mode conference from the participant. In response to receipt of the request for active participation, the participant is bridged into a private screening subconference, and information relating to the participant&#39;s requested active participation to the multi-mode conference is received via the private screening subconference responsive to a prompt. In response to the receipt of the information via the private screening subconference, the participant is placed in a queue to await authorization for active participation in the multi-mode conference, the queue including at least one other participant previously screened in another private screening sub-conference. The method further includes detecting selection of the participant from the queue, and establishing a connection between the participant and the multi-mode conference based on detection of the selection.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/825,248, entitled “Teleforum Apparatus and Method,”and filed Sep. 11, 2006, which is specifically incorporated by referenceherein for all that it discloses. This application further is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/298,903, entitled“Conference Monitoring-Only Channel” and filed on Nov. 17, 2011, whichis further a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 8,266,535, entitled“Teleforum Apparatus and Method,” and filed Sep. 11, 2007, which areboth specifically incorporated by reference herein for all that theydisclose. This application still further is related to U.S. Pat. No.8,881,027, entitled “Teleforum Participant Screening,” and filed on Sep.2, 2011; and U.S. Pat. No. 9,081,485, entitled “Conference Screening,”and filed on Sep. 2, 2011, which are specifically incorporated byreference for all they disclose.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is directed toward an apparatus and method forproviding a teleforum, and more particularly toward a teleforumapparatus and method where teleforum participants may request and begranted active participation in the teleforum and persons who were notdirectly dialed by the teleforum system or those who missed the initialcall from the teleforum system may initiate a call requestingparticipation in the teleforum.

BACKGROUND

Historically, systems capable of generating large volumes of automatedcalls have differed in hardware and software from those systems used tobridge participants on an audio teleconference. In addition, thehardware and software required to manage an audio teleconference areoften priced an order of magnitude or more above the cost of hardwareand software used to generate large volumes of automated calls on aper-phone-line basis.

Furthermore, the limited capacity of a typical audio conferencing bridgeprevents deploying the requisite number of phone lines to effectivelymake the many outbound calls required to achieve a large sized audioteleconference (10-100,000 conferees).

Audio conferencing bridges also have heretofore consisted of a singledevice, or in some cases a series of tightly-interconnected deviceswhich must be co-located in the same facility. Currently availableconference bridges can not incorporate equipment located ingeographically disparate locations in the same manner as thoseco-located in the same facility. Thus, presently available conferencingbridges are only capable of handling a few hundred conferees; Ininstances where more conferees than the limit are required, bridges mustbe either physically located in the same location, or, if they are indisparate locations must be controlled separately and have voice pathsjoined together by a manual process, resulting in loss of quality andcumbersome dispersed control of the conference by multiple operators whomust be extensively trained in the management of multiple conferencebridges.

Typical smaller teleconferences provide for each conference participantto listen to other participants, and provide voice input to theconference. Such typical smaller teleconferences thus requireapproximately twice the hardware resources of a large “listen only”conference. Presently available conferencing bridges capable of allowinglarge calls of multiple thousand participants do not provide for theplacement of some or all conference participants into an initiallisten-only mode which may be converted upon request to a full two-wayparticipation mode under the control of the teleconference operator.

The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of theproblems discussed above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B are a flow chart detailing certain steps of a methoddisclosed herein;

FIG. 2 is a screen capture showing a control interface live view;

FIG. 3 is a screen capture showing a control interface screening view;

FIG. 4 is a screen capture showing a control interface CapitalCall™view;

FIG. 5 is a screen capture showing a control interface reduced live viewsuitable for a host; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a system consistent with the presentinvention.

SUMMARY OF THE EMBODIMENTS

One embodiment is a method of providing a teleforum. The method includesgenerating simultaneous outbound invitation calls to multiple inviteesand transmitting a message to each invitee, inviting him or her tobecome a teleforum participant. Teleforum participants who accept theinvitation are connected to the teleforum in a listen-only mode. Duringthe teleforum, a teleforum participant may request active participationin the teleforum. The method also includes allowing the participant toactively participate in the teleforum. Active participation may includebut is not limited to such activities as: speaking to the teleforum,asking a question, responding to a poll, making a donation, providinginformation, leaving a message, being transferred to a subconference,receiving feedback from participants, leaving a voicemail, volunteeringfor future activities or receiving media transmitted outside of theteleforum.

The method may also include displaying information related to theteleforum on a multi-user computer interface. Typically, the multi-usercomputer interface will be displayed on various computers maintained bythose with authority to control some aspect of the teleforum. Thevarious computers displaying the multi-user computer interface may bewidely separated geographically. The information displayed on theinterface may include, but is not limited to, the identification of orother personal information concerning teleforum participants, the statusof participants requesting active participation, poll results, donationstatus, feedback from participants, the identity of participants who areactively participating, the screening status of participants requestingactive participation, and the general status of the teleforum. Theactivities listed above may also be controlled using the multi-usercomputer interface.

The method of providing a teleforum may also optionally includescreening one or more participants prior to allowing a participant toactively participate in the teleforum. More than one screener may beinvolved in the administration of the teleforum, and each screener maycontemporaneously screen selected participants who have requested activeparticipation. Screening may be done utilizing the multi-user computerinterface described above.

The method of providing a teleforum may also include communicating withselected teleforum participants in a private subconference, separatefrom the teleforum. The number of participants who may activelyparticipate in any teleforum activity at a select time may be limited.

Another method of providing a teleforum includes generating simultaneousoutbound invitation calls to multiple invitees and transmitting amessage to each invitee, inviting him to become a teleforum participantas described above. In this embodiment however, calls from persons whoself-initiate their own inbound calls requesting to become a teleforumparticipant are also accepted. Both invitees and self-initiated callersmay be connected to the teleforum in an initial listen-only mode.According to this embodiment, call-in information may be provided to agroup of persons who are likely to self-initiate inbound calls to theteleforum. The call-in information may be an appropriate telephonenumber, a teleforum date and time, a personal identification number oraccess code or other similar information. Call-in information may bedistributed by any means, including but not limited to direct mailing,e-mail, facsimile transmission, telephone call, radio advertisement,print media advertisement, internet advertisement, and televisionadvertisement.

Another embodiment is a virtual conferencing bridge for providing ateleforum. The virtual conferencing bridge includes a voice responseunit (VRU) in communication with multiple communication pathways. Thevirtual conferencing bridge also includes a teleforum bridge incommunication with the VRU and a control interface in communication withboth the VRU and the teleforum bridge. The VRU may be in communicationwith the teleforum bridge through multiple content channels.Alternatively, the VRU may be in communication with the teleforum bridgethrough only one content channel and through which individual channelsmay be bridged on dedicated proxy channels.

The virtual conferencing bridge may include multiple VRUs associated inone or more clusters with each VRU being in communication with theteleforum bridge. Each cluster may be associated with at least onecluster-located web application server, and at least one cluster-locateddatabase server, which servers provide instructions and data to each VRUin the cluster. The virtual conferencing bridge may feature each clusterbeing located in a geographically separate region.

The virtual conferencing bridge may also include a master web server anda master database server in communication with the servers located ateach cluster. The master web server and the master data server maycommunicate with the cluster-located servers through a public, privateor virtual private network (VPN).

Communication between the control interface and the VRU may include acontrol communication path and a content communication path. The controlcommunication path may in turn include a master web server, a masterdatabase server, a cluster-located web application server and acluster-located database server linked with a public, private or virtualprivate network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A. Method Overview

A method of conducting a teleforum as disclosed herein is illustrated inthe flow chart of FIG. 1. The teleforum process begins before anyoutbound calls are made to invite participants. Initially, a systemoperator loads both an outbound calling list of digital names and phonenumbers and an electronically digitized sound file into the automatedoutbound calling system (Step 100). In addition, the system operatorprograms or establishes the broadcast parameters for the teleforum (Step102). For example, the system operator may select the start time foroutbound calling, the number of times to attempt an invitee telephonenumber, or similar items. Other features described in detail below maybe programmed at this stage. Prior to the commencement of the teleforum,hosts, screeners, support people, and select participants (possiblyselected for the purpose of asking “planted” participant questions) maydial in to the teleforum system for a “pre-conference” during whichstrategy, tactics and details concerning the overall teleforum arediscussed. The operator may launch the outbound calling process (Step104) upon learning that all hosts, screeners, and other authorizedpersons are ready to begin. As is described in detail below, theoperator will launch the call on the system, which includes any numberof independent but interconnected automated dialers, each of which iscapable of calling a particular number of called parties. The systemdisclosed herein may scale from 1 to millions of persons calledsimultaneously. Outbound calls are queued and made (Steps 106-108). Asoutbound calls are made and answered (Step 110), the system mayrecognize, through frequency analysis, speech recognition, or othermeans, that it has reached a live person (Step 112). If a live person isreached, the system may play the previously recorded digitized soundfile to the called party; this sound file typically invites the callerto provide input, for example, press 1, say a particular phrase, or juststay on the phone line to join a live teleconference (Step 114). Whenthe computer recognizes that the caller has provided input expressing adesire to join the teleconference, the steps outlined below begin.Otherwise the system hangs up and makes the subsequent outbound call(Step 116). If the system determines in Step 112 that an answeringmachine or other recording device has answered the outbound call, thesystem may play a prerecorded message targeted to an answering machineand hang up (Step 118) or may simply hang up without playing apre-recorded message.

The system also accepts requests (in the form of phone calls or otheruser-initiated methods) from parties who wish to join the conference.The system is configured to treat those parties who initiate their owninbound calls the same as parties who have been automatically called bythe outbound automated calling system. Each can be a full teleforumparticipant. Inbound calls may be solicited in advance. For example, ahost or system operator may publish a call-in number for an upcomingteleforum (Step 120). The call-in number may be published in the printmedia, broadcast as part of an advertisement, distributed through directmail, over the internet or otherwise transmitted to potential teleforumparticipants. The call in number will typically be associated with aprojected time for the start of the teleforum. A special access or PINnumber may be required for self-initiated participation. Self initiatedinbound callers are connected to the teleforum in the same manner asthose who accept outbound calls (Step 122). When self-initiated callersare given individual access codes or PINs (prior to calling in) thesecodes are solicited when the caller first dials the teleforum. The PINor access codes allow the teleforum system to identify pre-loadedinformation relevant to that participant, including the same type ofinformation which may be known about a participant to which the systeminitiated an outbound call.

Collectively, those parties who were contacted by the system to join theconference (invited parties) and those who have initiated their ownconnection to the conference (self initiated callers) are referred to as“participants” or “teleforum participants” herein.

In one embodiment of the teleforum apparatus and method, when aparticipant expresses a desire to join the teleconference, through atouch-tone response, an automated speech recognition command,self-initiated call-in, or by not hanging up (Steps 122-124), theparticipant's name, phone number, and other pre-loaded information istransmitted via an electronic connection to the traditional conferencingbridge (Step 126). The participant's phone line is then bridged, via asecond phone call on a phone line which originates with the bridge, intothe live teleforum (Step 128). The participant is typicallyautomatically placed into listen only mode, where the participant canhear the teleforum but cannot be heard in the teleforum. A participantmay then, as is described in detail below, request to be allowed tospeak, and may be allowed to speak briefly by opening the participant'stransmitting voice channel into the teleforum and then shunting it againto return the participant to listen-only mode. In addition, aparticipant may be screened by someone managing the call by taking thatparticipant's individual bridging line and joining it into a secondaryconference referred to as a “sub-conference” between the screener andthe participant, to verify the participant's identity, determine theappropriateness of the participant's question, and otherwise gatherinformation.

In another embodiment of the teleforum apparatus and method, when aparticipant expresses the desire to join the teleconference (Step 124),that party's individual phone line is joined in a listen-only fashion.For example, the transmission line which transmits voice signals to theparticipant is connected, but the transmission line which transmitsvoice signals from the participant is shunted along with all other phonelines from other participants who wish to join the same conference. Thusall participants are initially joined into the conference in a likemanner, such that they can hear the conference but cannot be heard inthe conference (Steps 126-130). The alternative connection methodincludes utilizing a monitoring phone line which is monitoring thetransmission of the live voice conference but does not have inputcapability and transmitting the monitoring channel's audio signalincluding the live conference audio collectively to all participants whohave joined the conference. The transmission channel from theparticipants is typically shunted so that no transmission from thischannel can be heard in the teleconference. In addition, the monitoringphone line may be part of a staged implementation where the transmittedaudio signal is in turn derived from another monitoring channel tominimize the required number of conference bridge ports.

After Steps 100-130 of the method displayed in FIG. 1 have beeninitially completed, at least one and possibly many teleforumparticipants are online and listening to the broadcast of teleforumcontent. It is important to note that new teleforum conferenceparticipants may be added to the teleforum at any time during thebroadcast according to steps 100-130. However, the remaining steps ofthe disclosed methods typically occur after broadcast of teleforumcontent has begun.

During the teleforum, a participant may express a desire to ask aquestion, make a comment or otherwise actively participate in theteleforum (Step 132). Active participation as defined herein includes,but is not limited to, asking the teleforum host a question, making acomment to all teleforum participants, replying to a poll of teleforumparticipants, participating in a side conference with a subset of thegroup of all teleforum participants, making a donation, supplying othernon-informational input to the teleforum or otherwise participating inthe teleforum beyond merely listening to the content provided by thehost. The request by the participant to actively participate in theteleforum may be made through touch tone keypad input, spoken voicecommand or otherwise. Upon receipt of a request for active participationto be unmuted to ask a question or make a comment, the participant isplaced into a queue (Step 134) where any relevant information knownabout the participant is listed. One or more screeners who are able tomonitor all participants who have joined the queue may then bridge theparticipant's phone line into a separate sub-conference to privatelyconfirm the caller's identity and appropriateness of his comment,question or other active participation (Steps 136-138). Thesub-conference is accomplished by removing the participant's phone linefrom the collective group of listening phone lines, and connecting theparticipant's phone line in a full-duplex fashion to the sub-conference.In the full duplex mode, both the speaking and listening transmissionlines for the participant are connected to the sub-conference, such thatthe screener may ask questions and mark the relevant answers andinformation into the caller's software record. Participants beingscreened, as well as the screeners, may optionally hear the audioteleconference at a reduced volume during the screening sub-conferencein order to monitor what is happening in the teleforum. When thescreening is finished, the participant may be returned to the previousstate of listening to the live conference collectively with the otherparties who have been called, or the participant's active participationmay commence, as described in detail below. At this point, the screenermay remove the participant from the queue (indicating that theparticipant should not be allowed to speak in full-duplex into theconference) or may place the participant back into the queue along withany information gleaned from the participant during the screeningprocess; for example, this may include the participant's desiredquestion or comment, common name and pronunciation, and any notes thescreener deems relevant such as “sounds angry” or “met you last week”.

During the teleforum, a participant may express a desire leave theteleforum, and may either simply end his connection (hang up a phone,for example) or may input a particular voice or key sequence indicatinga desire to leave the conference. The system may solicit a voicemailresponse from the participant asking for feedback, follow up questions,or any other information relevant to the sponsor, host, or otherindividual or entity.

To enable multiple participants to be screened at once, each participantmay have a dedicated, two-way “proxy channel” connected to a screeningnode which is capable of initiating a direct, one-to-one full-duplexconnection with a screener's individual channel. This eliminates therequirement for the isolated sub-conference discussed above, andprovides for multiple participants to be simultaneously screened bymultiple screeners.

Often, a teleforum host will solicit active participation from teleforumparticipants. For example, a teleforum host may ask the participants ifthey have any questions. Frequently, the announcement to the teleforumparticipants of the availability of transfer into an activeparticipation mode will cause a large number of transfer requests. Thelarge number of contemporaneous transfer requests will overwhelm thephone number(s) to which they are being transferred. As a result thesystem can be configured to only allow a maximum number of simultaneoustransfers to take place. For example, if the request for activeparticipation results in a teleforum participant being transferred to ahost's campaign headquarters, and only fifteen volunteers are preparedto answer transferred calls, the system can be configured to allow nomore than fifteen participants to transfer at a given time. Thesixteenth person may be placed into a queue for the next availableactive participation slot. When one of the original fifteen activeparticipants completes their active participation (typically this personwould be placed back into the listening mode of the teleforum), thesixteenth person may then be transferred for active participation.

When the conference chairperson or host has determined that it isappropriate to allow a pre-screened participant to speak to theteleforum to ask a question or make a comment (Step 140), the chosenparticipant's phone line is again removed from the general listen-onlycollective and connected directly, and in full-duplex, with a thirdphone line which in turn has a full-duplex connection into theteleconference (Step 142), allowing the participant to speak to theteleforum and to hear anyone else who is speaking to the teleforumsimultaneously. When the screening node based multiple-screening methoddescribed above is utilized, the participant's channel may be connectedvia a dedicated, shared full-duplex proxy channel which resides on thescreening node for the purpose of allowing a participant to speak to theteleforum. When the participant's question or other active participationis finished (Step 144), the conference chairperson or host may re-mutethe active participant's line (Step 146) and return them to listen-onlymode.

B. The Control Interface

The methods generally described above may be implemented with a controlinterface for the teleforum which allows an expert or novice to controlthe various aspects of the teleforum. The control interface allows theselection of parameters surrounding the initial broadcast ofsimultaneous calls. The control interface also provides for themanagement of participants who have elected to actively participate inthe teleforum. The control interface includes the ability to screen andun-mute individual participants, and provides for various otherfunctions described in further detail below. The control interfacecauses the transmission of commands and data via a data network such asthe internet or other private or public data networks in communicationwith the individual conference bridge media servers as well as theautomated calling machines. The control interface also gathers anddisplays data about the status of various participants and the teleforumin general. The control interface may be used to present data in ausable fashion to the teleforum chairperson, host or screeners. Inaddition, the interface provides for instructing media servers andcalling machines to manipulate the participants and teleforum inparticular ways to enable smooth and effective communication among allparticipants.

Thus, the control interface instructs the conference bridge mediaservers and automated calling machines to perform specific tasks. Thevarious status and control features of the control interface may begraphically displayed as shown on the screen capture images of FIGS.2-5.

For example, FIG. 2 is a screen capture illustrating the controlinterface as presented to a teleforum chairperson or host when ateleforum is live. The control interface as illustrated in FIG. 2 isreferred to as a “live view” 200 herein.

The live view 200 includes control and data fields such as theparticipant field 202 which displays the names, phone numbers and otherrelevant details relating to all teleforum participants. This field maycontain some or all of the information known about the participant priorto the call as well as some or all information learned about theparticipant through the screening process, through the participant'scomment or question live into the conference, or added by anyone who isallowed to use the control interface. This information may include, butis not limited to, the following details related to the participant:first, last, middle, and common name, all known names and ages of othersin household, screener notes from this and past teleforums, address,neighborhood, phone number, zip code, congressional district, partyaffiliation, state, age, race, ethnicity, gender, individual orhousehold income, size of household, tax bracket, voting record,volunteer record, past campaign contributions, email address, length ofparticipation, past questions asked in this and other teleforums,history of political activity (rallies), history of participant specificto host's office (e.g. case work), answers to various poll questions inthis and previous teleforums, transfer and donation history from thisand previous teleforums, means by which participant was reached (e.g.dialed-in, VoIP, Skype, Internet Broadcast, Mobile phone, home phone,work phone, prison phone, hotel phone), consumer habits, military statusand history. The participants field 202 includes controls which provideactive control functionality over the participants' respectiveconnections to the teleforum to the teleforum chairperson or host. Forexample, checkboxes 204 allow a conference chairperson or host to selecta subset of participants for further processing. Control buttons 206-210provide for active participant control. In particular, button 206 allowsa chairperson, host or screener to add the checked participants to thequestion and answer queue. Control button 208 allows the chairperson orhost to hang up on or otherwise end the participation of selectedparticipants. Similarly, control button 210 causes the chairperson orhost to hang up on all participants. Similar functional buttons may beused to place specific participants or groups of participants into aseparate private sub-conference, place specific participants or groupsof participants into music hold (control button 211) or otherwiseterminate the selected participants' ability to hear the teleforum. Thusthe control interface provides for the active participation, terminationor other control of selected participants or groups of participants.

As described above, control button 206 allows a conference chairperson,host or screener to transfer one or more selected participants into aquestion and answer queue, which is displayed as a question and answerqueue field 212. Some of the participants who are displayed in thequestion and answer queue field 212 have already been screened as isdescribed in detail herein. The question and answer queue field 212therefore lists the teleforum participants who are waiting to askprescreened questions along with details of the question itself, notesand other status information. Functional buttons such as 214 and 216 areprovided to allow the chairperson, host, or other authorized party toselect among the prescreened or unscreened teleforum participants, or toplace them in an acceptable order for asking questions or other activeparticipation. The functional buttons 216 are selectable to open atwo-way connection between a selected participant or subgroup ofparticipants and the teleforum, change details about a participant(including name, question, or notes as shown).

A screener view 300 of FIG. 3 shows a screen capture of the controlinterface as might be viewed by a call screener who serves to screenquestions or other requests for active participation submitted byparticipants. The screener may audibly screen a specific participant ina separate private screening teleconference. The screener may selectparticipants from a participant field 302 which is similar to theparticipant field 202 shown in the live view 200. In the screener view300, however, data input fields 304 are provided where the screener mayinput specific participant comments or questions or other informationsolicited in the private teleconference. As discussed above, multiplescreeners may be selecting participants from similarly displayedparticipant fields 302 at multiple screening stations at the same time.The multiple screeners may use control interface functionality such as a“done” button 305 associated with the screening view 300 to placeselected participants and their questions or other input into thequestion and answer queue 212 shown on the live view for subsequentprocessing by the host, chairperson, or other authorized party.

One type of participant request for active participation is an audiblydelivered question or comment delivered to the host and teleforum asdescribed in detail above. The methods described herein provide forvarious other types of active participation. For example, allparticipants may be presented with a poll question at some time duringthe teleforum. The host may directly poll the participants during his orher presentation. Alternatively, the poll question might be delivered asan automated message. The participants' response to the poll may berendered through a touch-tone key press or through other means such asspeech recognition. For example, in the live view 200 of FIG. 2, a pollfield displays the ongoing and continuously tabulated results of acurrent poll. Control buttons 220 allow the chairperson or host to beingtabulating a new poll, modify the poll or save results. Control buttons220 also allow the host or other authorized party to see which answerswere given by individual participants and to save a snapshotrepresenting the current state of all answers to the current poll forlater review.

Several of the features of the methods disclosed herein are accessed bytransferring a participant to a sub-conference. For example, theconference chairperson may connect individual participants with eachother in smaller sub-conference groups for the purpose of fostering moreintimate communication among participants. The chairperson or screenersmay solicit extended information from individual participants includingtransferring participants or groups of participants to specific outsidephone numbers or other audio or multimedia channels to take a donation,answer survey questions, communicate with support staff, or gatheradditional information. The control interface provides for thechairperson, host or screener to transfer a selected participant into aseparate sub-conference. For example, the screen button 306 in thequestion and answer queue field 304 of the screener view 300 shown onFIG. 3 will transfer the selected participant into a separate screeningconversation with one of the screeners. Similarly, the live button 216of the live view 200 will connect a participant to the entire teleforum.

The host, chairperson, or other authorized party may also solicit activeparticipation which does not involve providing voice or data input tothe teleforum. For example, the host may, during the teleforum, requestthat interested participants leave the teleforum momentarily to makedonations. The participant may be instructed to press a specific key ontheir touch tone phone pad or otherwise indicate that they want toactively participate in this manner. The participants who desire toactively participate in the request for donations are transferred to anoperator or automated system configured to accept credit cardinformation or to provide an address for the mailing of a donation bycheck. FIG. 4 is a screen capture of a CapitalCall™ view 400 which wouldtypically be displayed to the chairperson or host during a request fordonations. Of particular interest is the CapitalCall™ field 4 where dataconcerning the progress of the ongoing request for donations isdisplayed to the host. Thus, the host may provide periodic real-timeprogress reports to other teleforum participants to enhance theeffectiveness of the request for donations.

The control interface may be selectively configured to provide more orless information as is suitable for various persons havingresponsibility for the control of the teleforum process. For example,FIG. 5 is a host view 500 which includes a question and answer queuefield 502 and a poll result view field 504 and other information whichis critical to effective functioning as a teleforum host. Fields such asgeneral information 222 and technical chat 224 as illustrated on thelive view 200 which contain information most suited to a conferencechairperson or technical staff but which is potentially distracting tothe host may be removed from selected view. A special limited interfacemay be utilized to allow an observer to see all participants in aparticular teleforum, and witness the teleforum dynamic, but without anyability to take any action which affects the teleforum, or modify anyrelevant data.

When the host or other authorized party has determined that theteleforum should be ended, the system simultaneously instructs all nodesand clusters to terminate all participants (and optionally, allscreeners and hosts as well). At this conclusion of the teleforum, allparticipants may be invited to leave a voice message for the host orother party. These messages are made available immediately to the hostor other authorized party to be listened to or downloaded as a digitizedvoice file via the interface, or via a phone call made by or to the hostor other authorized party.

C. System Configuration

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustration of one possible system 600suitable for implementing the methods described herein. The systemcomponents are separated into four distinct areas of functionalityincluding:

-   -   hardware and software for making and receiving large numbers of        simultaneous phone calls, referred to herein as the        inbound/outbound system;    -   hardware and software for managing the multi-channel audio,        video, and/or multimedia conference referred to as the        conference system;    -   hardware and software which provides for user control of the        inbound/outbound system and conference system via a graphical        user interface (GUI) referred to as the interface; and    -   network hardware, architecture and network protocols which allow        the inbound/outbound system, conference system, and interface to        efficiently communicate in real time in a reliable manner,        referred to as the network.

The inbound/outbound system hardware and software are designed to fosterautomated communication between the inbound/outbound system and one ormore participants via the Public Service Telephone Network (PSTN) 602,Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), other public or private voice,video, or data networks, or any combination thereof.

To perform in this capacity, the inbound/outbound system consists of aseries of networked Voice Response Units (VRUs) 604A, 604B . . . 604_(n), each outfitted with network connections for inter-processcommunications as well as connections to the requisite phone, video, ordata networks used to connect to participants. VRUs may be grouped toachieve desired capacity. In addition, a common fileserver 606 anddatabase server 608 is shared among each group of VRUs. The group ofVRUs plus servers 606 and 608 form clusters 610A, 610B . . . 610 _(n).

Each cluster 610A-n may be geographically widely distributed. Regional,nation-wide or intercontinental distribution is accomplished byutilizing high-speed public, private, or virtual private networks suchas the Internet to allow for real-time communication and control of thevarious clusters and corresponding VRUs. Through these networks,communications messages specifically engineered for this purpose useselected protocols, for example SOAP (Simple Object ApplicationProtocol) and AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML) to foster fast,efficient communication among all clusters, VRUs, web servers, and webclient computers used for control, which, together with the fileserver606 and database server 608 provide task information for each VRU 604.

The software which runs on each VRU 604 may be a mix of commerciallyavailable software such as an operating system, device driver, databaseinterface driver, etc. and custom-built software which has been writtenspecifically to accomplish the steps outlined herein. The fileserver 606and database server 608 also may run a mix of commercially availablesoftware and customized software written specifically to accomplishmethods outlined herein.

When a VRU 604 on the inbound/outbound system must utilize the PSTN 602,the VRU 604 will also include special-purpose Telephony InterfaceHardware, control of which is performed by the customized softwareresiding on each VRU 604. The VRU units 604A-604 n may also includeVoice over IP hardware which facilitates the making of phone callsthrough VOIP, also controlled by the customized software. Thus, thesystem 600 may provide through the VRUs 604A-604 n in conjunction with aconference system 612 a shared voice path out of the teleforum for anynumber of participants to listen to. A participant who is activelyparticipating must have an individual voice path both in and out of theconference to avoid interference and allow other participants to hearhim speak.

The conference system 612 may be any general purpose audio, video, ormultimedia conferencing system 612 which the inbound/outbound system iscapable of connecting to in an automated fashion. For more sophisticatedautomated functionality, customized teleconferencing software may beemployed to facilitate advanced automated communication between theinbound/outbound system and the conference system 612.

The master control interface 614 consists of software written to allowobservers, chairpersons, operators and technicians to control both theautomated outbound phone calls and the real-time teleforum in acoherent, efficient manner. The control software typically runs on aworldwide web hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) server 616 and utilizescommunication messages specifically engineered for this purposedelivered through selected communications protocols to allow users suchas a teleforum chairperson to interact with the system 600 through acontrol computer 618 connected via a public or private TCP/IP network.As described in detail above, the control interface allows hosts,chairpersons or other users to upload and download lists of intendedparticipants as well as audio and video files. The interface 614 allowsusers to launch, monitor, and change broadcasts of simultaneous outboundcalls with the inbound/outbound system. The control software andinterface 614 allows users to fully control all aspects of the audio,video, or multimedia teleconference as discussed in detail above. Thecontrol software also provides for the collection and analysis of datarelating to the inbound and outbound phone calls and the teleconferenceitself, including call detail records, caller action records, recordedvoice and touch tone data including poll responses, queue requests,donations, and other data and information collected or utilized on theinbound/outbound system and the conference system.

In addition to the master control interface 614, the system 600 mayinclude a screener control interface 620. The screener control interface620 includes multiple screening stations 622A-622 n where requests foractive participation received from participants may be screened,directed to sub-conferences, or otherwise processed as described indetail above. The screening control interface 620 also includes ascreening VRU 624 which provides for each required screening voice path.

The network 626 may include a specially designed topography to provideefficient, reliable communication among the other system components aswell as between the observers, host, chairpersons, operators, andtechnicians utilizing the master control or screening control interfaces614, 620. Since the various system components must communicate with eachother in real time to obtain valuable data and provide effectivecontrol, network reliability and speed must be optimized to suit therequirements of the other system components. As described above, thevarious system components may be placed in geographically diverselocations and communicate through the network 626. System componentsplaced in various diverse locations provide for calls to be dispersedamong various telephone service providers and across several backbonesegments to avoid fault-line problems, to utilize least-cost routing,and to prevent problems with a single common carrier to reduce capacitywhen a large number of simultaneous calls required by certain teleforumsare attempted.

EXAMPLE

The following example is provided for illustrative purposes only and isnot intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Example 1

A host, chairperson or other user performs the following steps toexecute a teleforum as described herein:

1. The host, chairperson, or other authorized party obtains a list ofnames and phone numbers from a selected source (e.g. voter records).

2. The host, chairperson, or other authorized party records or causes tobe recorded various audio voice file(s) including a greeting andinstructions indicating how participants may join the teleforum. Thismay also include recording a post-conference prompt requestingparticipants to leave specific information in a voice message to bedelivered to the host, chairperson, or other person(s), and customized“on-hold” sound files (such as music) to be played to participantsbefore the host has begun the substantive portion of the call.

3. The host, chairperson, or other authorized party uploads the list andthe audio voice file(s) to the inbound/outbound system via the mastercontrol interface 618.

4. The host, chairperson, or other authorized party may optionallyinstruct the inbound/outbound system to perform automated analysis andmodification to optimize the efficiency of the list. For example, thesystem may remove duplicate or non-existent phone numbers, phone numberswhich may not be legal or cost-effective to call, and phone numberswhich may be in a geographic region where the teleforum is not relevant.

5. The host, chairperson, or other authorized party then instructs theinbound/outbound system to begin sending calls to all parties on thelist. Selected variables for the calling process may be specifiedincluding but not limited to:

-   -   a. How long to wait for someone to answer;    -   b. Particular frequency analysis parameters used to determine if        a live person has answered a call;    -   c. The frequency and maximum number of any retries of        unsuccessful calls based upon the reason for the failure (e.g.        busy, no answer, fast busy, operator intercept, system message,        dead air, ring-no-answer, facsimile machine answer, etc.).    -   d. Which audio or video files to play based upon whether a live        person or an automated answering device has answered a call;    -   e. Any other questions which the host, chairperson, or other        authorized party may deem relevant to ask the participant either        before allowing a participant to join the live teleconference,        after the participant leaves the live teleconference, or if the        participant declines to join the live teleconference. Feedback        from the participant may be accepted via touch-tone input or        voice;    -   f. The last point in time at which calls may be made for a live        teleconference, after which no more outbound calls are        attempted;    -   g. Other information specific to the broadcast of the automated        calls.

6. Participants who are reached, or call in directly and thereby requestto join the teleforum are joined into the live teleforum using thesystem and methods described above. Participants are initially placedinto listen only mode, where their voices cannot be heard in theteleforum, but they can hear the input of authorized speakers into theteleforum; Optionally, the host or other authorized party may cause allparticipants to be placed into music hold until a predetermined numberof participants have joined the call. Such music hold may consist of ageneric piece of music, a live feed of some sort, or a customizedmessage recorded for this specific teleforum.

7. As participants request permission to ask a question or make acomment, the system provides visual and/or audio cues to a host,screener, chairperson, technician, or operator indicating theparticipant's desire to ask a question, how long the participant hasbeen on the call and how long he has been waiting to ask a question.Information pertaining to the participant including name, address, phonenumber, political affiliation, and any other data deemed relevant by thehost, chairperson, or other authorized party may also be displayed.

8. The host, screeners, chairperson, operators, technicians, or otherparties may use the interfaces 614 and 620 to instruct the conferencesystem 600 to cause particular participants to be placed into privatesub-conferences with a screener or chairperson for the purpose ofscreening the participant's proposed comment or question. Screening maybe used to eliminate undesirable comments and questions or to allow thechairperson, screener or host to choose specific participants for activeparticipation based upon the questions or comments proposed by selectparticipants.

9. Those participants who have requested permission to activelyparticipate in the teleforum will have their phone lines un-muted,either one at a time or several at once, in the manner described above.When the chairperson, operator or host deems it appropriate, theparticipant's line can be again muted to prevent him from speakingfurther to the teleforum.

10. At any time, a chairperson or host with access to the master controlinterface 614 may instruct the conference system 600 to disconnect aparticular participant or group of participants from the conference.

11. At any time, a chairperson, host or other qualified party withaccess to the master control interface 614 may effectively end theteleconference by instructing the conference system 600 tosimultaneously disconnect all participants from the conference.

12. At any time, the chairperson, host or other qualified party mayinitiate a spontaneous poll, requesting that participants respond eitherwhich touch tone input or verbally to a particular question ofimportance. Poll results may be displayed in real-time as callersprovide answers and the system interprets and collects replies.

13. At any time, the chairperson, host or other qualified person mayrequest that all participants or a group of participants (e.g. thosecurrently in the question and answer queue 212 (FIG. 2)) leave voicemessages which may be immediately accessible or which can be reviewedlater.

The description of the various embodiments herein have been presentedfor purposes of illustration and description, but are not intended to beexhaustive or limiting of the embodiments to the form disclosed. Thescope of the present disclosure is limited only by the scope of thefollowing claims. Many modifications and variations will be apparent tothose of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiments described and shownin the figures were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the method and apparatus, the practical application of themethod, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understandthe various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of providing a multi-mode conferencecomprising: connecting a participant to the multi-mode conference in alisten-only mode; receiving a request for active participation in themulti-mode conference from the participant; in response to receipt ofthe request for active participation, bridging the participant into aprivate screening sub-conference; receiving, via the private screeningsub-conference, information relating to the participant's requestedactive participation to the multi-mode conference responsive to aprompt; in response to the receipt of the information via the privatescreening sub-conference, placing the participant in a queue to awaitauthorization for active participation in the multi-mode conference, thequeue including at least one other participant previously screened inanother private screening sub-conference; detecting selection of theparticipant from the queue; and establishing a connection between theparticipant and the multi-mode conference based on detection of theselection.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the participant isconnected to the multi-mode conference in the half-duplex mode while inthe queue.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying atleast some of information collected during the private screeningsub-conference on an interface visible to a multi-mode conference host.4. The method of claim 3, wherein the interface further displays a listof participants in the queue.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein theparticipant is connected to the multi-mode conference at a reducedvolume while in the private screening sub-conference.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the queue includes both screened participants andparticipants awaiting screening.
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: placing the participant back in the listen-only mode afterthe participant has actively participated in the multi-mode conferencevia the connection.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving input to selectively re-order the queue.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein detecting selection of the participant from the queuefurther comprises detecting selection of a participant that is not atthe top of the queue.
 10. One or more tangible computer-readable storagemedia encoding computer-executable instructions for executing on acomputer system a computer process comprising: connecting a participantto the multi-mode conference in a listen-only mode; receiving a requestfor active participation in the multi-mode conference from theparticipant; in response to receipt of the request for activeparticipation, bridging the participant into a private screeningsub-conference; receiving, via the private screening sub-conference,information relating to the participant's requested active participationto the multi-mode conference responsive to a prompt; and in response tothe receipt of the information via the private screening sub-conference,placing the participant in a queue to await authorization for activeparticipation in the multi-mode conference, the queue including at leastone other participant previously screened in another private screeningsub-conference; detecting the selection of the participant from thequeue; and establishing a connection between the participant and themulti-mode conference based on the detection of the selection.
 11. Theone or more tangible computer-readable storage media of claim 10,wherein the participant is connected to the multi-mode conference in thehalf-duplex mode while in the queue.
 12. The one or more tangiblecomputer-readable storage media of claim 10, further comprising: placingthe participant back in the listen-only mode after the participant hasactively participated in the multi-mode conference via the full-duplexconnection.
 13. The one or more tangible computer-readable storage mediaof claim 10, displaying at least some of information collected duringthe private screening sub-conference on an interface visible to amulti-mode conference host while the participant is in the queue. 14.The one or more tangible computer-readable storage media of claim 13,wherein the interface further displays a list of participants in thequeue.
 15. The one or more tangible computer-readable storage media ofclaim 10, wherein the participant is connected to the multi-modeconference at a reduced volume while in the private screeningsub-conference.
 16. The one or more tangible computer-readable storagemedia of claim 10, wherein the queue includes both screened participantsand participants awaiting screening.
 17. The one or more tangiblecomputer-readable storage media of claim 10, wherein the computerprocess further comprises: receiving input to selectively re-order thequeue.
 18. The one or more tangible computer-readable storage media ofclaim 10, wherein detecting selection of the participant from the queuefurther comprises detecting selection of a participant that is not atthe top of the queue.
 19. A multi-mode conference system comprising: oneor more control interfaces configured to: connect a participant to themulti-mode conference in a listen-only mode; receive a request foractive participation in the multi-mode conference from the participant;in response to receipt of the request for active participation, bridgethe participant into a private screening sub-conference; receive, viathe private screening sub-conference, information relating to theparticipant's requested active participation to the multi-modeconference responsive to a prompt; in response to the receipt of theinformation via the private screening sub-conference, place theparticipant in a queue to await authorization for active participationin the multi-mode conference, the queue including at least one otherparticipant previously screened in another private screeningsub-conference; detect a selection of the participant from the queue;and establish a full-duplex connection between the selected participantand the multi-mode conference based on the detection of the selection.20. The multi-mode conference system of claim 19, wherein theparticipant is connected to the multi-mode conference in the half-duplexmode while in the queue.
 21. The multi-mode conference system of claim19, wherein the control interfaces are further configured to place theparticipant back in the listen-only mode after the participant hasactively participated in the multi-mode conference via the full-duplexconnection.
 22. The multi-mode conference system of claim 19, whereinthe control interfaces are further configured to: display at least someof information collected during the private screening sub-conference onan interface visible to a multi-mode conference host.
 23. The multi-modeconference system of claim 19, wherein the control interfaces arefurther configured to display a list of participants in the queue. 24.The multi-mode conference system of claim 19, wherein the controlinterfaces are further configured to: place the participant back in thelisten-only mode after the participant has actively participated in themulti-mode conference via the full-duplex connection.
 25. The multi-modeconference system of claim 19, wherein the control interfaces arefurther configured to receive input to selectively re-order the queue.26. The multi-mode conference system of claim 19, wherein the controlinterfaces are further configured to detect selection of a participantthat is not at the top of the queue.